Also, doctors are advised to discontinue the antibiotics within twenty-four hours after the surgery. The report says longer than that is usually not necessary. It can increase the risk of antibiotic resistance and serious kinds of diarrhea.

Not all the news was bad. The report said the rate of pneumonia in adults after surgery decreased more than eleven and a half percent.

A separate report looked at the differences last year in health care for different groups in society.

Kathleen Sebelius is secretary of health and human services. Her department produced the two thousand nine National Healthcare Disparities Report and National Healthcare Quality Report. She noted that racial and ethnic minorities were less likely to have insurance and less likely to get the treatments they needed. She called the numbers "troubling."

But she also said the health care reforms passed by Congress will improve the quality of care for all Americans. She said the new law will reward quality over quantity of care, creating a system that prevents diseases before more costly treatment is required.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. Transcripts, MP3s and more are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.